188 



be so limited, and its habits and faculties be of such a 

 confined and local character, that it can only flourish in 

 a few particular spots, it can rarely be of great utility. 

 We may consider, therefore, that in the domestication 

 of animals and the cultivation of plants, mankind have 

 first selected those species which have the most flexible 

 frames and constitutions, and have then been engaged 

 for ages in conducting a series of experiments, with 

 much patience and at great cost, to ascertain what may 

 be the greatest possible deviation from a common type 

 which can be elicited in these extreme cases*." 



The fact, however, that aU areas of aberration (how- 

 ever large they may be) are positively circumscribed, 

 need scarcely be appealed to, in exposing the absurdity 

 of the transmutation hypothesis. The whole theory is 

 fiill of inconsistencies from beginning to end ; and from 

 whatever point we ^dew it, it is equally unsound. How, 

 for instance, can any amoim^t of local influences, or the 

 progressive requirements of the creatures themselves, 

 give rise to the appearance of several well-marked re- 

 presentatives of a genus on the self-same spot, — where 

 the physical conditions for each of them are absolutely 

 the same ? Look, for example, at the Tarphii (to which 

 I have already aUudedf) of Madeira : I have detected 

 about eighteen abundantly defined species ; and, as 

 stated in a previous chapter, I have but little doubt, 

 from their sedentary habits, and the evident manner in 



"^ Principles of Geology, 9th edition, pp. 583, 684. 

 t Vide supra, p. 121. 



